That’s the core message of a video Commissioner Lewis posted to YouTube. Billed as a message to his own officers and support staff in face of criticism over OPP inaction, the 3.5-minute video is as much for public consumption as internal communication. Commissioner Lewis lauds OPP officers for their professionalism, and dismisses critics in the public and the self-serving media who have called out the OPP’s “supposed lack of enforcement response.” But mostly, he wants to point out how “difficult” the current situation is for the OPP. He does so again and again throughout his remarks.

The Liberal government of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has been rightly criticized for allowing race-based policing to prevail during the native occupation of a land development site near the town of Caledonia, Ont. After natives forced construction activity to stop in a new housing development adjacent to Six Nations land in 2006, native activists also set up blockades on both public and private property. The native protesters were able to act with impunity while the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) concerned themselves with “peacekeeping.” Non-native Ontarians, however, including local residents, still found themselves subject to the law as per normal.

There’s no denying that the situation is complicated. And the OPP will certainly need to respond to protests and blockades, by natives as much as any other group, with actions that are, in the Commissioner’s words, “measured, professional and sensitive.”

But the responses must also be effective. The public, not to mention our courts, have the right to expect that our police forces will enforce the law and court orders. And Commissioner Lewis’s confident address to his officers can’t obscure the fact that the OPP has been falling short there.

First there was Caledonia, of course, a small Ontario town that was subjected to years of harassment, and sometimes outright violence, by natives from a nearby reserve, over a land dispute. The OPP, no doubt under orders from the Dalton McGuinty Liberals, engaged in a display of race-based policing. Non-natives were subject to the full force of the law. Natives were essentially untouchable — including when police officers themselves were under attack. Post columnist Christie Blatchford’s book Helpless recounts the sad story in detail, including anecdotes in which OPP officers themselves express disgust and shame at their inaction.

And then, more recently, was the startling decision of an Ontario judge to publicly chastise senior police officials for their refusal to enforce court orders. Judge David Brown, who, in his frustration, echoed the sentiment of millions of Canadians when he declared, “I do not get it,” slammed the refusal of the Sarnia, Ont., police and the OPP to disperse a native protest that Justice Brown had ruled illegal.

This is not about the public not understanding a complicated situation, or the nuances of police procedure. This is about the OPP, and other forces, not living up to what the public expects of them, not to mention what the court requires of them. The police serve the public. We have entrusted the responsibility of enforcing the law and maintaining public order to them, but as free citizens, the power is ours to give. If the OPP isn’t living up to their end of the bargain, it’s their job to shape up, not the public’s job to revise their expectations of police downward.

Commissioner Lewis would likely respond that he’s obligated to act within established laws and procedures, and that the ultimate goal of any police operation must be to keep the peace. Unfortunately, it is increasingly clear that the OPP’s established procedures for dealing with native protests have relegated law enforcement to a second-tier priority. The OPP has decided that moving in to disperse a protest and arrest the perpetrators is too complicated, too dangerous. Too “difficult.” One doubts that rioters in downtown Toronto or Ottawa would be given similar deference, but no matter.

If the Commissioner of the OPP feels that enforcing the law is too difficult a job for his force, we should defer to his judgment and accept that

But that’s not the end of it. If the OPP, or any police force across the country, feels that enforcing the law, even upon natives, is too dangerous or difficult, there is a ready-made solution. Unlike the United States, Canadian law explicitly permits the use of military troops in law enforcement capacities. The duty of providing aid to the civil power is written directly into the National Defence Act. If the attorney general of any province faces a riot or demonstration (native protests and blockades, if ruled unlawful, would certainly qualify) that local law enforcement resources are not able to deal with, that attorney general may request military assistance. The military is compelled, by law, to respond. Any troops assigned to that mission, while still under military command, automatically assume the legal status of a police officer, and can make arrests and use force to maintain or restore order.

In other words, if the Commissioner of the OPP feels that enforcing the law is too difficult a job for his force, we should defer to his judgment and accept that. And then bring in troops to do the OPP’s job for it.

It’s doubtful, of course, that the attorney general of any province is eager to take an already complicated situation and add the military to it. Political optics will, sadly, remain a consideration. But it’s important for Canadians to know that a police force declaring itself unable to enforce the law is not the end of the story. If widespread native protests threaten our travel and trade — as even the OPP commissioner concedes is entirely possible — any police force that can’t solve the situation can count on some help from the boys and girls in green.

In the wake of a Grammy Awards ceremony that disappointed many, from Kanye West to the masses on Twitter lamenting the state of pop music, a historical perspective is key. Few are better poised to offer one than Andy Kim.